|
 Tom Sawyer – Part
Fifty
Before you read the text, read the following comprehension questions.
Now read the text and answer the questions.
 A
few minutes later Tom was in the shallow water, moving toward the shore. Before
the depth reached his waist, he was half-way across. The current wouldn’t let
him walk through the water so he swam the remaining hundred metres. It wasn’t
easy, the water ran faster than he had expected. However, he reached the shore
finally, and floated along until he found a low place to get out of the river.
He put his hand on his jacket pocket, found his piece of tree safely inside, and
then walked through the woods, following the shore, with very wet clothes.
Just before ten o'clock he came out into an open place opposite the village, and
saw the ferryboat lying in the shadow of the trees and the high river bank.
Everything was quiet under the stars. He went quietly down the bank, watching
carefully, got back into the water, swam three or four strokes and climbed into
the small boat that was at the back of the large ferryboat.
He laid down and waited, breathing heavily. Soon the bell was rung and a voice
gave the order to "cast off."
A minute or two later the front of the small boat rose up in the water as the
ferryboat moved forward and the voyage had begun.
Tom felt happy in his success. He knew it was the boat's last trip for the
night. At the end of a long twelve or fifteen minutes the wheels of the
ferryboat stopped, and Tom jumped quietly overboard and swam to the shore,
landing fifty metres downstream, out of danger of being seen.
He ran along small paths, and shortly arrived at his aunt's back fence. He
climbed over, approached the house, and looked in at the sitting-room window. A
light was burning there.
Aunt Polly, Sid, Mary, and Joe Harper's mother were all sitting, grouped
together, talking. They were by the bed, and the bed was between them and the
door. 
Tom went to the door and began to softly lift the handle. Then he pushed gently
and the door began to open. He continued pushing cautiously, and shook every
time it made a noise. Eventually he decided he might squeeze through the door on
his knees, so he put his head through and began to slowly go inside.
"What’s making the candle move like that?" said Aunt Polly.
Tom hurried up. "That door's open, I believe. Why, of course it is. Another
strange thing happening. Go and shut it, Sid."
Tom disappeared under the bed just in time. He lay and got his breath back for a
while and then moved to where he could almost touch his aunt's foot.
... to be continued!
* The text has been adapted from the Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
Download the
original book for free
*Consulta
un PDF con la información y resumen de 100 libros en inglés
que puedes descargar en 1 único archivo.
|
|
|
|
|
Now read the text and answer the questions.
"But as I was saying," said Aunt Polly, "he
wasn’t bad, only mischievous, you know. He wasn’t very responsible at all but he
didn’t mean any harm and he was the most warm-hearted boy that ever lived"
And she began to cry.
"He was exactly like my Joe, full of mischief but he was also really unselfish
and kind. God help me, just think that I hit him for taking that cream, never
once thinking that I threw it away myself because it had gone sour, and I would
never see him again in this world, never, never, never, poor abused boy!" And
Mrs. Harper cried as if her heart would break.
"I hope Tom's better off where he is," said Sid, "but if he'd been better in
some ways….."
"Sid!"
Tom felt the glare of the old lady's eye, though he could not see it.
"Not a word against my Tom, now that he's gone! God will take care of him, don’t
worry about it. Oh, Mrs. Harper, I don't know how to give him up! I don't know
how to give him up! He was such a comfort to me, although he drove me mad
sometimes."
"The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!
But it's so hard. Oh, it's so hard! Only last Saturday my Joe let off a
firecracker right under my nose and I knocked him to the other side of the room.
Little did I know then, how soon…..Oh, if it could happen again, I'd hug him and
kiss him for it."
"Yes, yes, yes, I know just how you feel, Mrs. Harper, I know just exactly how
you feel. It was only yesterday that my Tom filled the cat full of Pain-killer,
and I thought the cat would destroy the house. And God forgive me, I hit Tom's
head with my hand. Poor boy, poor dead boy. But he's out of all his troubles now.
And the last words I ever heard him say was to ask for forgiveness.
But this memory was too much for the old lady, and she broke down entirely. Tom
was crying himself now, more in pity of himself than anybody else.
He could hear Mary crying, and saying something nice about him from time to
time. He began to have a better, nobler opinion of himself than ever before.
Still, he was sufficiently touched by his aunt's sadness to feel like rushing
out from under the bed and hug her with joy and happiness. The theatrical
attraction of this idea appealed strongly to his nature, too, but he resisted
and lay still.
He went on listening, and heard that at first people had thought that the boys
had drowned while taking a swim. Then, they found the small raft. Next, some
boys said the missing lads had promised that the village should "hear something"
soon. So, people concluded that the lads had gone off on that raft and would
turn up at the next town very soon.
However, around noon the raft had been found about five or ten kilometres below
the village. Then people lost hope. The boys must have drowned. If not, they
would have needed to go home before it was dark to eat something.
It was believed that the search for the bodies had been a fruitless effort
merely because the drowning must have occurred in mid-channel, since the boys,
being good swimmers, would otherwise have escaped to shore.
This was Wednesday night. If the bodies continued missing until Sunday, all hope
would be lost, and the funerals would be held on that morning.
Tom’s body shook. Mrs. Harper said good-night while crying and turned to go.
Then, on impulse, the two women threw themselves into each other's arms and had
a good, consoling cry, and then left.
Aunt Polly showed loving tenderness as she said good-night to Sid and Mary. Sid
cried a little bit and Mary went off crying with all her heart.
Aunt Polly knelt down and prayed for Tom so touchingly, so appealingly, and with
such measureless love in her words and her old trembling voice, that he was full
of tears again, a long time before she had finished.
... to be continued!
* The text has been adapted from the Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
Download the
original book for free
*Consulta
un PDF con la información y resumen de 100 libros en inglés
que puedes descargar en 1 único archivo.
|
|
|
|
